Chemistry of the Elements

This textbook presents a comprehensive account of the chemistry of the elements for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. This crucial central area of chemistry is full of experiments, compounds and discoveries. The authors specifically avoid the term "inorganic chemistry" since this evokes an outmoded view of chemistry which is no longer appropriate in the closing decades of the 20th century. Accordingly, the book covers not only the "inorganic" chemistry of the elements, but also analytical, theoretical, industrial, orgometallic, bio-inorganic and other areas of chemistry which apply. The authors have broken with recent tradition in the teaching of their subject and adopted an approach based on descriptive chemistry. The chemistry of the elements is still discussed within the context of an underlying theoretical framework, giving cohesion and structure to the text, but at all times the chemical facts are emphasized.